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When 21-year-old Jordana Scarapicchia met her current boyfriend, she felt nervous and shy around him but she didn’t know why. Sweaty palms, racing heart, shortness of breath, it could only be one thing. Love.
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$">“I would turn completely red [around him]. I was so shy. A lot of times, I would stumble on words and things like that,” she explained.
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$">We often think of love in emotional terms, but the physicality of falling in love, like sweaty palms and a racing hearbeat, is a reality.
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$">According to Ariel Fenster, a chemistry professor at McGill University, falling in love may be stronger than just feelings. “There are some indications chemicals do play a role in falling in love,” Fenster said.
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$">“There are three different levels [to falling in love]; attraction, infatuation and attachment,” Fenster said.
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$">Attraction, he says, may be attributed to pheromones.
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$">Pheromones are chemicals emitted by living organisms in order to sexually attract a member of the opposite sex of the same species. Female insects, for example, excrete pheromones that will attract male insects up to 10 kilometres away.
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$">Though this behaviour has mostly been observed in animals, experts say it’s common with humans as well.
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$">When 21-year-old Concordia finance major Toula Yannakis fell in love, she experienced many of the same physical reactions as Scarapicchia.
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$">“I would giggle when I would see him,” Yannakis said of her first love.
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$">“He made me feel good and you could see it on my face that I was happy.”
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$">Yannakis knew she was in love when she noticed herself feeling physically better whenever she was with her boyfriend.
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$">“You always want to be with them,” she said. “You feel good when you’re together. When you’re not talking to them, you want to be talking to them. When you’re not with them, you’re thinking of them.”
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$">Fenster said there is evidence to suggest a physical response to being in love, although there are no definitive answers.
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$">Studies have been done observing the mating habits of pigs, where the male pig will release pheromones to attract a female pig when ready to mate.
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$">“What is interesting is that male pig pheromones are present in men,” Fenster said.
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$">These sexual agents known as pheromones, more specifically, androstenol, are subtly emitted through a man’s sweat and are also carried by women. Whether or not they are effective in wooing members of the opposite sex is still unknown.
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$">While we usually go through these physical changes in what Fenster calls the first stage of falling in love, we seem to experience other physical reactions during the last stage as well — the attachment stage, when relationships are developed.
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$">Yannakis agrees, citing the comfort and security a relationship can offer, which left Yannakis feeling happier and more relaxed than usual.
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$">“Your boyfriend or girlfriend is different from a friend because you have an emotional and physical connection. No matter what time it is, you know that person will be there for you,” she explained.
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$">However, when the relationship began to sour, Yannakis said it affected her academic performance as well as her relationships with family members.
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$">“I didn’t want to talk to anyone,” she said.
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$">Steve Carauana, a 23-year-old Concordia student, agrees that relationships have their ups and downs that can have a direct effect on one’s mood or behaviour.
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$">“You get stressed if things don’t go well one day. At work or at school, if you care about someone, it bothers you,” he said.
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$">After nearly five years of being in a relationship, Carauana says some benefits include a sense of comfort and knowing that your partner is always there for you.
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$">How and why we fall in love may always remain a mystery, but humans have been doing it since the beginning of time, and will likely continue doing so until the end of time.
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